If the streetwear label proves impossible for Virgil Abloh to shake, at least he can ensure it isn’t destined for fashion ignominy. “Not on my watch will I allow streetwear to become like disco,” he said, while deciding whether to superimpose two camel coats, one sleeveless. “It was so in vogue and jazzy at the time, and then 10 years on, everyone is ashamed of it.”
The meeting for Abloh’s first Off-White Pre-Fall offering took place at the same time as last-minute prep for his first men’s runway show, and the heightened volume—from the size of his support team to the racks upon racks of clothes—attested to how quickly he’s scaled up in two years. On first impression, it actually read like a greatest-hits compilation: Patchwork jeans (this time encrusted with velvet); a cross-backed strap sweatshirt; belled inverted khaki cargos with matching harness; and reworked, overprinted vintage tees have all found a place in Off-White’s permanent rotation. But there were several indications that Abloh is nudging his needle: His signature diagonal striping now appeared as stitched leather strips down the sleeves of a distressed motorcycle jacket. Custom yellow winch straps cut through men’s trousers where the detail may previously have been printed. (Those same straps complete his suede Birkin-terpretation—safely stripped of all trademark identifiers.) The basque bust of a dressy look was well fitted. “Each time you push yourself, you find you can do twice as much,” he insisted. That calculation pretty much correlated to the confidence of the looks, which by no means are for everyone. But behind each one was Abloh’s so-called rhetoric on today’s youth culture. Also there, behind the model, was a scrap of Jean Prouvé.
